Lower Numbers for Second Night of ‘Idol’

Fox’s “American Idol” lost viewers from night one to night two, based on Nielsen overnights. Thursday night’s two-hour installment delivered a 5.6 average rating in the key 18-49 demo, down from the 6.0 for Wednesday’s premiere, TVbytheNumbers.com reports.

Still, “Idol” was easily the top-rated show of the night, pushing Fox to a big win for prime time. Fox’s 5.6 average for the evening in viewers 18-49 placed the network far ahead of the pack, trailed by ABC (2.2 average), CBS (1.9), Univision (1.6) and 1.5). Fox’s win in total viewers was equally impressive, with the network averaging 16.2 million to 9.0 million for CBS, 7.2 million for ABC, 3.9 million for Univision and 3.9 million for NBC.

CBS, which aired all repeats, had the second-highest-rated show of the night in the 18-49 demo, with a rerun of “The Big Bang Theory” delivering a 3.3 average rating.

ABC’s second-place performance was highlighted by a 2.9 average in 18-49 for “Grey’s Anatomy” (down three-tenths from a week ago) and a 2.6 for “Scandal” (down two-tenths). “Last Resort” managed only a 1.0, down two-tenths.

NBC’s main sign of life was a 1.9 for “Parks and Recreation” in the 18-49 demo, a season high and a four-tenths improvement from its previous original episode; along with a 2.1 for “The Office,” although that represented a drop of one-tenth from a week earlier. “30 Rock” managed only a 1.3 (down two-tenths from last week), while “1600 Penn” and “Rock Center” both settled for 1.2 averages.